A crutch is a mobility aid that transfers weight from the legs to the upper body of a person using the crutches. Crutches are commonly used by people who cannot support their weight using their legs, often due to short-term or long-term injuries or disabilities.
One of the most common models of crutch is an underarm or axillary crutch. Axillary crutches had a pad at the top that is placed against the ribcage beneath the armpit. The user then holds the grip on the crutch that runs parallel to the pad. The crutch enables the user to place more, if not all, of their weight on the crutch to decrease the load on their injured or disabled legs.
By placing weight on the crutch pad, the user often experiences discomfort and/or injuries from the crutch. The user's weight is on the crutch while the user is moving, which creates significant friction and pressure between the crutch and the user's armpit. The pressure between the armpit and the crutch increases the frictional force on the armpit while the user moves using the crutch for support. A user's skin and nerves are often harmed due to the contact between the crutch and the armpit area of the body.
Some people using crutches place a towel or other soft material on top of the crutch pad to help prevent or reduce injuries to the armpit or body. Over time, the cushion of the towel degrades because the weight of the user repeatedly pressing on the towel during use compresses and compacts the towel. In addition, the towel material wears down and loses it springiness. Another drawback of the use of a towel is that a towel is bulky when positioned on the crutch, which negatively impacts the fit between the user's armpit and the top of the crutch.
The use of towels and other soft materials reduces the chances of injury while using crutches, but it is not secure. Towels can move, which can result in the crutch slipping from the user's armpit and causing further injury. In some cases, people duct tape a towel to the top of the crutch pad. These are rudimentary fixes that can cause further injury and do little to solve the actual problem of injury to the user's armpits when using crutches.
As can be derived from the variety of devices and methods directed at protecting the user's armpit while using crutches, many means have been contemplated to accomplish the desired end, i.e., towels and soft materials. Heretofore, tradeoffs between reliability and comfort were required. Thus, there is a long-felt need for a device that protects the user's armpits while using crutches. There is a further long-felt need for a device that allows each user to customize the padding between the armpit and the crutch. There is also a long-felt need for a method to place a device on a crutch that offers customizable padding support between the armpit and the crutch.